Quilting has been in practice for many years, initially for utilitarian purposes, and more recently as a way of artistic expression. The continued popularity of the craft has lead to the development of modern textiles, equipment, and labor-saving sewing devices.
Quilting typically entails sewing two layers of cloth with a layer of insulating batting in between, thus forming a quilt. Quilts may be formed in a variety of shapes and styles that are variously used to cover beds, to decorate walls, used as lap cloths, and so forth. Designs and patterns are typically sewn, or stitched, into a quilt by hand or with a sewing machine to secure the two layers of cloth and the layer of batting together. Complex designs and patterns are often hand-stitched by a skilled craftsperson due to the complications involved with attempting to manipulate an unwieldy, multilayered fabric sandwich under the needle bar of a conventional sewing machine. However, such hand-stitching can be too time consuming for a skilled craftsperson, and may be too challenging for those who are not as skilled at hand-stitching. In addition, hand-stitching may be difficult or even impossible for those with limited mobility of their fingers, such as for an individual who has arthritis.
Thus, much attention has been directed toward the development of specialized sewing machines, known as “long arm” machines, which have a deeper throat for better accommodating the large fabric. Unfortunately, long arm sewing machines can be complex, bulky, and undesirably costly for the average hobbyist. Furthermore, if a hobbyist already has a conventional, household sewing machine, the additional long arm sewing machine presents commensurate storage related problems. For these reasons, many hobbyists would prefer to use their conventional, household sewing machine.
By merely utilizing a long arm machine or a household sewing machine, the hobbyist must still manipulate the quilt relative to the machine which can be difficult, and cause puckering and stitching errors. Accordingly, market demand has lead to the development of quilting devices for holding the fabric to be quilted and moving the sewing machine relative to the fabric. A typical quilting device includes a frame system for holding the fabric to be quilted, and a platform supporting a sewing machine for moving the sewing machine relative to the fabric. Generally, the frame holds one or more payout rollers, onto which fabric is rolled, and a take-up roller. The take-up roller is typically directed through the throat of the sewing machine so that fabric suspended between the payout rollers and the take-up roller can be passed under the needle bar of the sewing machine for machine stitching. The platform typically includes two carriages, one sitting upon the other. One carriage moves in a longitudinal direction, and the other carriage moves upon the first carriage in a transverse direction. The platform can then be manually manipulated by the user to impart a stitch pattern onto the fabric.
Several problems exist with these prior art quilting devices. For example, the wheels of the carriages typically sit upon track systems. Unfortunately, wheels setting upon a track have a tendency to become derailed, which can be inconvenient and/or lead to equipment damage. In addition, some track systems, particularly those configured to sit upon a tabletop, are formed with interconnecting track sections. These track sections can disassemble in operation also leading to derailment of the wheels.
The rollers used on conventional quilting devices are typically cylindrical, and each includes a ratchet mechanism having a gear and pawl for locking the roller and holding the fabric at a desired tension. Unfortunately, the use of a gear and pawl provides stepwise tensioning. Consequently, a user may have to decide whether the fabric should be tensioned too much or less than a desired amount of fabric tensioning. Inappropriate tensioning of the fabric can lead to puckering or loose stitches, which is obviously undesirable to the look of the finished product.
Some prior art quilting devices require the user to manipulate the sewing machine from the rear of the machine. In addition, the quilting device may include a stylus or laser pointer coupled to the moving carriage. A quilting guide can be followed by moving the carriage, thus moving the stylus, to impart a quilting pattern onto the fabric. The pointer and quilting guide are located near the rear of the machine within access by the user. Unfortunately, a rear driven machine and stylus located near the rear of the machine results in poor visibility of the fabric under the needle bar. As such, it is difficult for the user to visualize both the traced pattern and the sewn fabric concurrently to verify the accuracy of the stitching.
Still other problems exist with prior quilting devices in terms of complexity of setup, bulky size, difficulty of fabric loading onto the rollers, and so forth. Accordingly, what is needed is a quilting table that substantially mitigates the aforementioned problems.